How do you engage with a country that says it can’t guarantee the safety of diplomatic staff in its own capital, and warns foreigners in its southern neighbour to go home? Is aggressive enough to threaten to reduce its opponents to a sea of fire, yet sensitive enough to complain that its dignity has been affronted?
Those are the sort of questions that will be grappled with at the Engage Korea conference at Merton College Oxford on 4 May. And a very eminent assembly of speakers it is. Places are still available. Register here.
The running order is roughly as follows (I’m a bit vague as to how the second half of the afternoon works – it’s not clear from the conference website). It’s a very full day, which will involve either staying in Oxford the night before, or getting up at the crack of dawn to get there in time. Haven’t decided which choice I’m going to make, but at least my place in the audience is booked already.
7:30 | Registration begins | |
9:00 | Opening remarks | |
9:30 | Plenary 1: DPRK Politics: Style and Substance Moderator: James Hoare, Charge d’Affairs Pyongyang (established first British Embassy in Pyongyang), Conference Academic Advisory Board Member Ambassador Karen Wolstenholme, Former UK Ambassador to DPRK 2011-2012 Tat Yan Kong, Reader in Comparative Politics & Development Studies at SOAS, University of London Heonik Kwon, Senior Research Fellow in Anthropology, Trinity College, University of Cambridge |
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11:00 | Break | |
11:30 | Plenary 2: International Relations and DPRK Moderator: Ramon Pacheco Pardo, Lecturer in the Department of European & International Studies at King’s College London Professor Christoph Bluth, FRHistS, School of Politics and International Studies, University of Leeds Aidan Foster-Carter, Honorary Senior Research Fellow in Sociology & Modern Korea, Leeds University Adam Cathcart, Lecturer in Asian History, Queen’s University; Assistant Professor of History at Pacific Lutheran University John Swenson-Wright, Senior Lecturer in Modern Japanese Studies, Asian Studies Centre, Faculty of Asian & Middle Eastern Studies, University of Cambridge & Senior Consulting Fellow, Chatham House |
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13:00 | Lunch | |
14:00 | Panel Session 3a: International Roles in Economic Development Moderator: Matthew Bates, Aminex PLC; Economics and Trade Analyst, SinoNK.com Christopher Davis, Reader in Command and Transition Economies, Department of Economics and School of Interdisciplinary Area Studies, University of Oxford Christopher Green, Manager of International Affairs, Daily NK; Assistant Editor, SinoNK Ambassador John Everard, Former British Ambassador to North Korea, 2006-2008; Former Coordinator, UN Panel of Experts established pursuant to Security Council Resolution 1874, 2011-2012 Keun-Wook Paik, Senior Research Fellow, Oxford Institute for Energy Studies & Associate Fellow, Chatham House. |
Panel Session 3b: Soft Power Engagement, including Capacity Building – An Alternative Means of Diplomacy? Moderator: Sabine Burghart, Lecturer and PhD Candidate, University of Vienna Katharina Zellweger, Pan Tech Fellow in Korean Studies at Asia-Pacific Research Center, Stanford University. Professor Asaph Young Chun, Director and Professor, Pyongyang Summer Institute in Survey Science & Quantitative Methodology; Program Chair of Statistics Without Borders, American Statistical Association Magnus Andersson, Research Fellow in Asian Studies and Assistant Professor in Human Geography, Centre for East and South-East Asian Studies at Lund University Speaker: TBA |
16:15 | Break | |
Breakout Discussion Groups (Delegates choose one session) | ||
Group 1 16:45 – 17:30
A) Matthew Bates, Aminex PLC; Economics and Trade Analyst, SinoNK.com B) Nathan Beauchamp-Mustafaga, Research Assistant, The International Institute for Strategic Studies C) Gianluca Spezza, Co-director, NK News; Master in Humanities, University of Torino, MSc Asian Studies (candidate) D) Kate Hext and Aidan Foster-Carter, Lecturer in English, University of Exeter |
Group 2 17:45 – 18:30
A) Sabine Hae-Ran van Ameijden, MA International Peace and Security, King’s College London B) Jinsun Bae, Research Associate in Human Geography at Lund University C) Christopher Davis, Reader in Command and Transition Economies, Department of Economics and School of Interdisciplinary Area Studies, University of Oxford D) Robert Winstanley-Chesters, PhD Candidate, University of Leeds |
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18:40 | Special Message from BBC for Korea ; Closing Ceremony | |
19:30 | Evening Social |
Conference Date: Saturday, May 4
Location: TS Eliot Theatre, Merton College at the University of Oxford
(automatically generated) Read LKL’s review of this event here.